the efficiency of inter-organisation collaboration by setting out best practice for model transfer and conversion.

The intended users of the document are people, working in the domain of space systems, who use thermal analysis as part of their work. These users can be in industry, in (inter)national agencies, or in academia. Moreover, the guidelines are designed to be useful to users working on products at every level of a space project – that is to say at system level, sub-system level, unit level etc.

In some cases a guideline could not be globally applicable (for example not relevant for very high temperature applications). In these cases the limitations are explicitly given in the text of the handbook.

It can be seen that thermal models are used during all phases of the space systemdevelopment to support a large number of activities, ranging from conceptual design right through to final in-flight predictions.

Indeed, in some cases, thermal analysis is the only way that certain thermal requirements can be verified; as physical tests are either too expensive or unrealisable. It is therefore vital for the credibility of the predictions made that the quality of the models is as high as possible.